Frigid temperatures prompt the spread of seasonal illnesses, filling classrooms with the sounds of coughing and uncovered sneezes. By February’s start, most students have stockpiled tissues and wiped medicine shelves bare.
This season, influenza began making its rounds about five weeks ahead of schedule, infecting students well before its usual mid-February peak, said John Kemerer, medical director at Campus Care.
Of the 133 flu tests performed at Campus Care between July 2012 and January 2013, 35 returned positive, said Tonya Burdette, director of Campus Care, in an email.
Fifteen of these tests were performed Monday through Wednesday during the first week of spring semester classes, and five of those returned positive. Only one flu test returned positive during the 2011–12 academic year, Burdette said in the email.
“We’re in this flu epidemic,” Kemerer said. “It’s all over the United States right now, so if you come in with (flu symptoms), we’ll say it’s probably influenza, and if you’ve had it for more than two days, there’s nothing we can do about it.”
After a patient has experienced flu-like symptoms for more than two days, Kemerer said there is no treatment available.
“Forty-eight hours within the start of symptoms, we can use Tamiflu to reduce the length of illness and symptoms,” he said.
To test for the virus, providers use a nasal swab and receive results in 20 minutes.
There have been 97 positive flu cases tested at the O’Bleness Memorial Hospital lab this flu season, said Hannah John-Conry, infection preventionist at the hospital. The O’Bleness lab receives tests of individuals who visit QuickCare, the emergency room or area doctor offices, she said.
To help avoid catching the flu, people should cover their coughs and sneezes and wash their hands often, John-Conry said.
However, the total number of cases that have infected those in Athens County is somewhat unclear, as the flu is not a reportable disease, said James Gaskell, health commissioner at the Athens City-County Health Department.
The severity of a flu season is determined indirectly, using evidence such as the number of thermometers purchased and the number of flu tests being performed, Gaskell said.
Though students and locals in Athens County should still be wary of catching the flu, Gaskell said he believes the season has already peaked and is on the downslope.
“It looks like it’s peaked already, and it’s starting down the other side,” Gaskell said. “We had more cases two weeks ago.”
The Athens City-County Health Department is out of flu vaccines and won’t have more available during this flu season, Gaskell said.
He added that two weeks ago, about four percent of doctor visits in the area were to treat or test for the flu, but that number has since decreased.
sg409809@ohiou.edu
